Merritt announces campaign for Texas House speaker

State Representative Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, was scheduled to hold a news conference 1 p.m. today in Austin to announce his campaign to run for speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

A 12-year veteran of the House, Merritt has said he will campaign on a platform of "bringing members together and ending an era that has split the body."

Merritt was challenged in Tuesday's election by Libertarian Joey R. Stroman, but he walked away with 87.9 percent of the total Gregg County vote with 29,471 ballots cast in his favor to Stroman's 4,055.

That landslide victory means the Kilgore native will return to office for his seventh two-year term in the state capitol.